After successfully completing college and all the classes and extracurricular activities it entails, now it’s time to prepare yourself for the next step: medical school. But what, exactly, will that be like? And what do you learn in medical school? 

Medical school curricula can vary widely, but there’s a rough template they’re all based on. In this post we’ll examine the standard course of a medical school education, so you can have a good idea of what to expect as you embark on your journey to becoming a physician. 

Let’s get started by taking a look at what you’ll learn during the first two years of medical school, known as the “preclinical years.”

Year 1 & 2: Preclinical Years 

Luckily, the first two years of medical school (the preclinical years) tend to be much like the college education you’re used to. Lectures, presentations, and more all make their return. 

The first part of the preclinical years tends to be focused on getting a foundational knowledge on how the human body works. Courses on anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology, pathology/histology, and more start to build what will become an immense fund of medical knowledge. 

The second part of the preclinical years focuses on organ systems and learning their specific anatomy, pathology, and their treatments. You’ll also take courses that highlight patient-physician interaction, how to develop physical exam skills, interprofessional interaction, racism in medicine, international medicine, and other topics about the medical field. 

These courses are integral to becoming a well-rounded physician with a full understanding of the healthcare system and the patient you’re caring for!

Transition from undergrad

The transition from the college classroom to medical school can be challenging because the volume of material you’re expected to learn is so much greater. 

Luckily, many schools have small group study sessions to help you add clinical context to the material you’re learning. These are also excellent opportunities to learn from your peers and practice your public speaking skills through presentations and group discussion. 

While at home, you should plan on spending a significant amount of time studying third-party material, as well as course-specific content to ensure you understand everything and succeed on final exams. 

Step 1 

At the conclusion of your preclinical years, you’ll take the first of three board exams, Step 1. This covers all your classroom material from the first two years of medical school. 

For the past several years, this test has been pass/fail, but it shouldn’t be underestimated. Study hard for it. The knowledge you gain from Step 1 studying will be valuable in subsequent phases of your medical career. 

How should you prepare for Step 1? 

There are many strategies when it comes to studying for Step 1. The most important thing is to pick the right study resources. I’m a proponent of using a small number of high-yield study tools. Questions banks are excellent resources for practicing the types of questions you’ll encounter. Be sure to pay attention to the answer explanations, as they contain a lot of valuable information. 

A good flashcard deck will help you remember lots of facts, and using “spaced repetition” when studying them will ensure you have access to the information they contain come test day. 

One or two supplemental resources that cover high-yield topics will help round out a great study regimen. Finally, practice tests are a must when it comes to exam preparation. Check out this blog post I wrote about how to use practice tests for Step 1!

After passing Step 1, you’re ready to move on to the clinical years and get into the hospital! Let’s take a look at this second phase of your medical training, so you’ll know what to expect. 

Years 3 & 4: Clinical Years

The clinical years are a significant change from the classroom learning you’re used to. Now you’ll be learning from patients, residents, attendings, nurses, pharmacists, and many more while you’re “on the job.” 

This is when you’ll learn how to work in a hospital. You’ll be learning just as much about patient interaction, coworker communication, and the “art” of medicine as you will about disease, differential diagnoses, and treatments. You’ll need to learn what makes you most efficient and effective in the operating room or on the wards. 

This time in your medical school career may come with some growing pains as you make mistakes, get subjective evaluations, and work many hours. Going in with the mindset of trying to learn something from any patient, formulating good questions, and being willing to accept and implement feedback can take you a long way. 

Shelf Exams & Step 2

Despite spending most of your time seeing patients, formulating plans, and getting questioned about all sorts of minutiae, you’ll still need to study specific material during each rotation for its “shelf” exam. 

Luckily, you’ll be learning and implementing much of your knowledge in the hospital, but it’ll still be important to have a study regimen to ensure nothing is missed in your learning and to practice the types of questions you’ll be asked. I suggest using a quality question bank with good explanations and a flashcard deck you can review in your spare minutes at the hospital, like the combined Step 2 / Shelf Qbank from Blueprint Prep.

It’s difficult to study for shelf exams when you’re so busy, but it’s something that’s to your benefit in the end. The knowledge you’ll acquire is important for Step 2, the second board exam of your medical career, which is a summation of what you’ve learned during your clinical years (building on top of your Step 1 knowledge, too!). So think of shelf studying as investing in your future!

Final Thoughts 

What do you learn in medical school? A lot. But you can do it! 

Overall, medical school is a rewarding, challenging, material dense, and fast-paced environment. It requires you to use the same skills you developed in college and to refine them even further. 

Remember, have a structured study schedule with spaced repetition to avoid cramming information at the last moment. Go with the flow and take it all in as you enter the world of medicine, and you’ll do well!

As you progress through medical school and the structure of your educational curriculum evolves, how you learn will also change. The most dramatic transition happens when you start your clinical rotations. In the process, you move from classroom-based or online learning with content developed by your medical school (e.g., lectures, online modules, and labs) to more experiential learning immersed in patient care.

This entails a year-long series of blocks, each comprehensively covering specific areas of healthcare to teach you how providers in these fields practice. Notably, exams remain built into the curriculum, but in contrast to preclinical tests developed by your school, these are often standardized “shelf exams” produced by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME).

To make sure you’re as prepared as possible for your clerkships, read on to learn more about what shelf exams are and, even more importantly, how to study for shelf exams.

What are shelf exams? 

Most of your rotations for clerkship year will culminate in a shelf exam. Typically, these exams have 110 multiple-choice questions. Each question has a single best answer and you’ll have 165 minutes to complete the exam. 

What is tested on shelf exams?

In contrast to the questions on the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1, shelf exams focus much more on the care of patients, including how to diagnose and treat diseases. You should expect to be tested on the identification of the next steps in management, utilization of appropriate and cost-effective diagnostic tests, and selection of correct pharmacotherapy. 

In general, the questions are very reflective of the USMLE Step 2 CK. Many have likened Step 2 CK to a sampling of questions from all the shelf exams consolidated into one test.

Wondering if you’re on track with your shelf exam prep? Take our FREE quiz from our Blueprint experts to find out!

What topics are on a shelf exam?

Intuitively, the content of each exam will relate to the field of medicine or surgery you just did a rotation in.For more specific details, the NBME publishes a content outline online that provides a breakdown of the different items tested on each exam. As an example, the outline for the internal medicine shelf exam can be found here. 

It’s important to understand that material can overlap across multiple shelf exams. An important example is the surgical shelf exam, which tends to focus less on procedures or techniques and more on the medical management of surgical patients (e.g., diagnosing postoperative fever or recognizing peritonitis). 

Other examples include concepts at the intersection of neurology and psychiatry or internal medicine and pediatrics. This means that, while earlier shelf exams may be inherently more challenging, shelf exams become easier as you see recurring concepts across specialties.

Which resources should I use to study for shelf exams?

The learning you gain from the rotation itself will go far in your exam preparation. However, these exams are wide-ranging enough that you won’t be exposed to everything that might be tested, so you should supplement your “on-the-job” education with independent study. 

The best advice on how to study for shelf exams? Use Qbanks! 

At the core of your approach to every shelf exam should be a good question bank like Blueprint’s combined Step 2 & Shelf Qbank. This Qbank is tailored to the NBME content outline and emphasizes the high-yield content most likely to appear on the exam in a multiple-choice format that makes the learning active and effective. You can categorize practice questions by shelf exam, while also using it to prepare for Step 2 CK!

Study like you mean it with the new Step 2 & Shelf Exams Qbank, the most representative NBME Qbank with test-like questions to help you pass USMLE Step 2 CK and all your Shelf exams. Get started with 7-day FREE access to 5,500 questions!

What else do I need to know about how to study for shelf exams? 

Beyond using a relevant Qbank, the resources you use will depend on the rotation, as different resources are effective for different shelf exams. Some of our best recommendations are summarized below.

1. Internal Medicine: “Step-Up to Medicine”; OnlineMedEd
2. Surgery: “Dr. Pestana’s Surgery Notes”; “Surgical Recall”
3. Pediatrics: “Blueprints Pediatrics”; “Case Files Pediatrics”
4. Family Medicine: “Case Files Family Medicine”
5. Obstetrics and Gynecology: “Blueprints Obstetrics and Gynecology”; APGO uWISE Program
6. Psychiatry: “First Aid for the Psychiatry Clerkship”; “Case Files Psychiatry”
7. Neurology: “Blueprints Neurology”

Remember: shelf exams are still standardized exams, so good test-taking skills will maximize your performance. You should use techniques such as reviewing the question before reading the vignette and the process of elimination.

As you study, you will pick up quick high-yield clinical pearls like avoiding a computed tomography scan for a hemodynamically unstable patient that will allow you to work through patient management questions quickly. Again, practice makes perfect, so make sure you’re building plenty of practice questions into your study plan.

How do I find time to study for shelf exams?

Another aspect of your clerkship year that is different from your preclinical experience is that you will have significantly less time for studying after a long workday in the hospital. To that end, you want to maximize efficiency in how you construct your study schedule. As with every plan, you should determine upfront how much you want to get done by exam day. 

How can I make a study schedule that I’ll stick to? 

First, consider which materials you will use—you can consult the list above for a starting point. You then simply divide how much time it will take to work through those resources by the number of days before the test to get a sense of what you need to finish daily.

Importantly, you must build in plenty of flexibility for catch-up days, practice exams, and days off.

First off, you may have to work extra hours at the hospital sometimes, and consequently not have much time to study once you get home. Furthermore, you should consider spending a day doing a practice NBME shelf exam or two. These provide an idea of what the exam format and questions will entail and can be purchased here for a small fee.

Finally, it is most important that you schedule days off whenever possible to return to work in the clinic or hospital or to your studying feeling refreshed and recharged.

A great resource that can help you keep track of everything is Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner. It takes all the guesswork out of how much time resources require and constructs a reasonable study plan leading up to your exam day in a user-friendly interface. 

Thousands of medical students use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to save hours of planning time, see exactly what to do each day, and ace their med school exams. Get unlimited access today!

The bottom line: Knowing how to study for shelf exams paves the way for Step 2 CK!

This recipe for success on shelf exams will pay off again when it’s time to study for and take Step 2 CK, an exam that borrows questions and concepts from each of the shelf exams and incorporates them into one test. Recall that Step 2 CK will still assign a three-digit score to your performance and know that score has been increasingly important in the residency application process now that Step 1 is a pass/fail exam.

Your study plan for Step 2 CK will center again on a quality question bank in conjunction with the same ancillary resources listed above for each of the shelf exams. Therefore, heading into your clerkship year with a good plan of how you will prepare for shelf exams will pave the way for you to do well on almost all the standardized tests you will have in medical school thereafter, including Step 2 CK.

Further Reading

Looking for more (free!) content from Blueprint tutors? Check out these other posts on the Med School blog:

• Which Are the Hardest Shelf Exams?
• How I Balanced My Clinical Rotations with Shelf Exam Studying
• Best Shelf Exam Study Resources: A Comparison & Breakdown

The following post is a guest blog from a Blueprint tutoring student, Katerina, who successfully passed her Step 1 and shelf exams at the same time with the help of her Blueprint tutor. Hear her story below!

The summer before my third year of medical school, I still felt like I wasn’t ready to take Step 1.

Deep down, I knew I needed more time to build the foundation of knowledge that would allow me to pass the exam.

So…how did I get here?

You see, during my preclinical years, I was learning at such a fast pace I simply wasn’t able to create the solid, long-term knowledge base I needed for Step 1 success.

Additionally, I had difficulty applying my knowledge when answering standardized questions, and I felt like I never really managed to tackle this problem. 

My Decision: Study for Step 1 or Tackle Both During Third Year?

With my third year of medical school looming on the horizon, taking Step 1 seemed less than desirable. But I knew I had to make a decision—do I play it safe and focus on just studying for Step 1? Or do I give myself a shot and see if I can pass it while also studying for rotations?

I had two options: either I would 1) push off starting third-year rotations until January and dedicate the fall semester to studying for and hopefully passing Step 1; or 2) study for Step 1 and third year rotations at the same time.

I chose the latter. Making the decision to study for Step 1 and third year at the same time was a difficult one. I knew that if I was going to do this, I couldn’t do it alone.

Why I reached out for help…

As much as I consider myself an organized and disciplined person, I knew the journey I was about to embark on was going to be a very grueling and lonely one.

That’s when I decided to ask for help. I reached out to Blueprint for one-on-one tutoring. I just needed someone to help me organize my study schedule and hold me accountable if I was going to reach my goals while juggling a million other things.

And let me tell you, it made all the difference!

How My Med School Tutor Helped Me Pass My Exams

1. My study sessions were targeted and productive.

When it came to pairing me up with a Blueprint tutor, I was sent a detailed questionnaire to assess what my goals were.

Soon after, my assigned tutor reached out to me to schedule our first session. I met with my tutor about once a week for 1-2 hour sessions.

We reviewed specific high-yield topics, or topics I maybe wanted to review a little further. We also focused on practice questions and question strategy.

The PowerPoints were direct and very interactive, so I didn’t feel like I was just being lectured. Being able to then apply the knowledge we just discussed with practice questions really helped hammer down the content.

2. My tutor was flexible to my schedule.

My Blueprint tutor was always receptive to my school schedule and the importance of taking time to recharge, so she was always very realistic when helping me curate my daily study plan. 

3. My tutor was on my team!

It was also really comforting knowing I had someone on my side, holding me accountable in keeping me motivated and disciplined every step of the way. It made a huge difference during a really isolating process.

Wondering if you’re on track with your shelf exam prep? Take our FREE quiz from our Blueprint experts to find out!

4. My tutor helped me balance my shelf exam and Step 1 preparation.

At the start of my two-month internal medicine (IM) rotation, I did more Step 1 than IM practice questions.

As I got closer to my IM shelf exam, I focused solely on IM. The benefit of starting with IM was that it was really helpful in preparing me for Step 1. The disadvantage was that IM is long hours and has the most Qbank questions out of all the rotations.

The weekend after my shelf exam, I passed my first Step 1 NBME practice exam! That’s when I decided to book my test.

As a side note, I do want to highlight the fact that I was honest with the residents I was assigned to during this rotation. I let them know that I was studying for Step 1 and if there was ever any down time, I’d appreciate it if they would let me study.

The reason I want to mention this is because there’s no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed for not taking and passing Step 1 during the dedicated period. Everyone is on their own timeline and sometimes it may take longer for some than others and that’s ok!

So, don’t be afraid to ask for help or tell your attending or resident that you’re still studying for Step 1. More likely than not, they’ll want to help you.

5. Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner helped me manage my time.

As much as I made them aware of my situation (and they were extremely understanding of it) I still gave them 100% of my effort on the rotation. I chose to study for both simultaneously, however, that didn’t mean I could slack off.

So, this is when I really had to manage my time well and I created a detailed schedule in my Google Calendar of what I planned to tackle each day.

I also utilized the Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to help check off my daily tasks. With the unpredictability of my rotation schedule, there was variability in the amount of time I was able to dedicate to studying each day. The study planner allowed me to redistribute tasks with ease to ensure I met my goals for each week.

6. My tutor helped me at a crucial moment. 

At some point during my next rotation (OB/GYN), I was sensing a bit of burnout. I was exhausted, but I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it.

That’s when my tutor realized that I had to slow down. So I started taking one day off each week. And I mean a real day off. I didn’t do any studying that day. It was just what I needed to recharge my battery and continue moving forward.

I know you’ve heard it before and it’s easier said than done, but REST IS PRODUCTIVE! You have to make self-care activities, whether it’s going to the gym or going to therapy, a priority. Your body knows when it’s about to hit its breaking point and we want to avoid that as much as possible. Medical school is a marathon, not a sprint!

7. Working with a tutor gave me a sense of control.

I kept up with my practice exams and Qbank practice questions as I continued to approach exam day. How did I know I was ready?

Well, you never really feel ready. I remember the week of my exam just feeling so done and wanting to get over this exam. I wanted test day to be the last time I had to see a Step 1 question. As much as I was nervous, my gut was telling me I was ready, so I decided to stick with my scheduled exam date.

No one goes into Step 1 knowing everything, but I was confident that I had the prep tools I needed to succeed. And I’m so grateful to say that my hard work did pay off that day!

My Advice to Med Students Considering a Tutor

Now, this isn’t to say everyone should follow in my footsteps, because unfortunately I do know people who have and didn’t pass Step 1. At the end of the day, it comes down to what YOU think you can handle and don’t compare yourself to anyone else.

If you choose to push off third year rotations to study for Step 1, do it. No path in life is linear, there are many twists and turns, but as long as you don’t give up on yourself, you will reach your goal of becoming a doctor.

The bottom line is, make the decision that’s right for YOU! No one knows you better than yourself. No matter what you decide to do it will be hard and frustrating, but lean on your support system and most importantly trust yourself.

And if you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it, because once I decided to ask for help and make the investment to work one-on-one with a Blueprint tutor, it was a game changer in helping me reach my goals.

So, that’s my story. I share it with you so you can see where one path can lead. Best of luck on your journey, and remember, do what you think is best for you. And reach out to a Blueprint med school tutor for help if you need it!

Looking for more (free!) articles to help you through med school? Check out these other posts on the Blueprint Med School blog:

• Why Asking For Help Is Your Greatest Strength in Med School
• Open These Love Notes to Help You Through Med School 💙
• What Happens if I Fail Step 1 (Now That It’s Pass/Fail)?

Maybe you’ve read Blueprint articles about Anki cards like “What is Anki?” and “Which USMLE Subjects Are Best for Anki?” but still have questions about this popular study resource. If so, no worries—we’ve got you covered!

In this article we’ll go over some FAQs medical students have about Anki cards. I’ll show you how to get the full benefit of them and what research has been published that supports incorporating them into a comprehensive study plan.

We’ll also take a look at whether it makes sense to make your own cards, how often you should review them, and how much study time you should devote to Anki.

Let’s begin!

1. Should I make my own Anki cards?

An age-old question! I largely recommend against creating your own Anki cards. For medical students, there are several different kinds of decks you can download from the internet, all of which contain very good cards. 

These decks rely on trusted resources such as First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy, etc. (So far Blueprint just has flashcards for the MCAT, so get your pre-med friends started on the flashcard train early!)

It would eat up valuable study time (and equally important leisure time) to create your own cards based on these resources when they already exist.

2. Does it ever make sense to make my own Anki cards?

That said, there are a couple of situations where crafting your own deck is beneficial. The first is in cases where you want to supplement a deck.

For example, if you’re using an anatomy deck but need to review neck anatomy a bit more, simply add a few cards that target your knowledge gaps.

Another example is making Anki cards based on questions you miss in your Qbank. When you get a practice question wrong, you can create a quick Anki card to learn the concept you forgot and incorporate it into your regular deck, rather than repeatedly re-doing entire questions in your Qbank.

3. How much of my studying should be with Anki?

Anki is a great study tool, but it shouldn’t compromise 100% of your study time. As discussed in my other article about Anki strengths and weaknesses, some subjects like physiology or biostatistics require you to draw out concepts or calculations to fully understand the whole picture. It’s best to avoid using Anki in these situations.

Attending lectures, board prep videos, or reading the textbook should also comprise a bulk of your time—after all, you need to learn the concepts before you dive into the review.

Finally, the most important part of your studying will always be doing practice questions (the Blueprint Qbank is a great place to start). Practice questions force you to synthesize information, think through differentials, and critically apply the information you learn. It’s a type of learning several steps above the rote memorization of Anki. 

Ultimately, think of flashcards as a foundation that helps you get to the larger goal of acing practice questions. Focusing on clinical vignettes will help you do well on your exams, but more importantly, it will prepare you for the wards and your day-to-day work as a physician.

Plus, those matters aside, studying with flashcards for more than three hours a day is really boring…if you concentrate too much of your studying in Anki World, you’re likely to experience diminishing returns due to loss of focus and the rote nature of the activity. As with all things medical school, you have to find the balance that works for you!

4. Do I need to do all my reviews every day?

Yes! Keep reading to learn about research studies focused on this very question. Briefly, completing your old card reviews every day will help you get the full benefit of spaced repetition.

If you keep up with your daily reviews, they should be manageable and completed in less than two hours. However, if you add too many new cards each day (always target less than 100) or you don’t stay on top of your reviews, then Anki will become overwhelming. Any study tool that overwhelms more than reassures is not worth it!

If you discover you’re not wired to do flashcards every day, don’t fret about it. Utilize other high-quality study methods, and you’ll do much better than if you force yourself to use a tool your brain isn’t built for.

If you find you’re someone who can use Anki every day, take a day off every few weeks to let yourself recharge! Enjoy Anki-free birthdays, family holidays, and test days.

During time off, please use the freeze tool! Using the freeze tool will pause your Anki so that reviews don’t accumulate on your rest day and make the next day doubly stressful by forcing you to play catch-up.

At the same time, taking off a few days a week means you won’t be using Anki to its fullest potential. But taking off a few days a month won’t meaningfully impact your progress, and the mental health benefits will be much more impactful.

5. Does Anki work?

Last but not least, what kind of physician would I be if I didn’t find you some evidence for my Anki claims? There isn’t a huge body of research for Anki specifically, but some isolated studies can shed light on its effectiveness.

Anki Research Studies

A 2015 article in “Perspectives on Medical Education” analyzed Step 1 test scores among students who used Anki as well as practice questions. While controlling for factors like test anxiety and MCAT scores, it found that “each additional 445 boards-style practice questions or 1700 unique Anki flashcards were associated with an additional point on Step 1.” Notably, while only a third to a half of students used flashcards, all students used practice questions.

A 2021 study in “Medical Science Educator” surveyed about 200 students on their Anki habits and Step 1 scores. They found that Anki users averaged 241 on Step 1 while those that didn’t use the tool averaged 235.

The study also emphasized that how students used Anki was important. After all, the benefit of Anki is completing the “review deck” of cards each day. Completion rates did matter in a statistically significant way—for example, those who reviewed all of the cards “sometimes” averaged 236 on Step 1, whereas those who reviewed “most of the time” or “always” averaged three points higher.

Interpreting the Data

There are a few major takeaways from the studies above. The first is that Anki has been shown to improve test scores (as well as lessen test anxiety) but the effect is stronger when Anki is used the way it was intended. This means doing all of your reviews daily in order to capture the full benefit of “spaced repetition.”

If you engage with Anki only occasionally and don’t use it to review previously learned material, it’s unlikely to benefit you. If you’re not someone who can dedicate daily time to flashcards, it’s best to use other highly effective methods like concept mapping and practice questions.

The other takeaway is that while many medical students do well without using Anki, none do well without practice questions. All of the students in these studies utilized Anki in addition to practice questions rather than in place of them.

In summary, Anki is a great tool if used in the right way as part of a study plan that incorporates lectures, practice questions, and—of course—rest and relaxation!

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, this post answered some questions you had about Anki cards. Anki cards should never replace things like Qbanks when you’re preparing for USMLEs, but if you feel like they may work for you as a supplemental tool, use the information in this post to up your study game. Best of luck on your exams, and don’t hesitate to reach out to the Blueprint tutors if you need additional help!

You can hardly set foot in any United States medical school without hearing about the popular flashcard tool called “Anki.” Anki is loved (and feared) by many, but is it a good fit for you? Compare these strengths and weaknesses of using Anki for your USMLE prep!

What is Anki?

Let’s start with the basics: Anki is an app/online platform that utilizes the age-old study tool of flashcards in a more clever and efficient way.

When you get a card “correct,” the system will file it away so you don’t need to waste valuable time on information you’ve already mastered. It’ll automatically retrieve that card and show it to you again in a few weeks or even months when you’re likely to start forgetting it. Meanwhile, the cards you get “wrong” will keep appearing in your deck until you consistently get them right.

This method, known as spaced repetition, is based on the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus, a 19th century German psychologist. He discovered what’s known as the “forgetting curve,” which states that humans naturally forget information soon after they learn it. However, if a person is repeatedly forced to recall that information, they can retain it and stave off the forgetting curve.

Dr. John Wittman, an English professor at Stanislaus State in California, illustrates this point in the graph below. The natural course of human memory is represented by the purple curve called Ebbinghaus:

Image source: Class Teaching

As you can see, knowledge rapidly declines over time. However, this curve can be disrupted if a learner repeatedly engages with the information at set intervals, such as immediately following class, after one week, etc.

Anki automates this process, so that a deck containing thousands of cards may only require the learner to answer 200 per day. This allows for more time-effective and efficient learning. With all of the information medical students need to memorize, it makes sense why the tool has become so popular! 

Using Anki for USMLE: Strengths and Weaknesses

Now let’s dive into which types of learning Anki is good for versus when you should seek out other methods.

Note that my recommendations below are based on the assumption that you’re doing all of your Anki review cards every day. If you want to learn more about why this is important, how you should incorporate Anki into your overall study plan, and what data has been published on how effective Anki is for medical students, you should check out my related Anki FAQs article.

Anki Strengths: Memorization

Anki is excellent for helping a person memorize disparate facts. For example, my favorite use for Anki in medical school was a pre-made deck based on the Sketchy microbiology and pharmacology videos.

Microbiology

Microbiology is a lot of memorization, such as is listeria gram positive or gram negative? Which antibiotics fight MRSA? What are the risk factors for Chagas disease? This makes it perfect material for fact-based Anki cards. Even better, the cards had screenshots from each video featuring visual memory aids to further solidify the concepts.

Anatomy

Another great subject for Anki studying is anatomy. For example, if you’re trying to memorize the bones of the foot, you simply upload a diagram into the program. Then you obscure the labels and voila! You click through the cards until you’ve mastered the foot. Rinse and repeat for all the other body parts and you’ll ace your practical.

Of course, what I’ve just described doesn’t compare to the 3D experience you get when studying an actual donor body, but it’s a great adjunct to the traditional methods. There are many, many premade decks out there for anatomy, so I encourage you to find one you like and dive in rather than make your own deck.

Image-Based Subjects

Histology, dermatology, and other image-based subjects also tend to do well in Anki format!

Anki Weaknesses: Processes and Complex Systems

I’m the first to sing the praises of Anki and spaced repetition learning theory. In medical school I was one of the Anki fanatics who religiously completed my deck each day. (In retrospect, I could have been less regimented in my approach.)

Still, I believe that consistent Anki use made me feel better prepared for and more relaxed about my exams. It helped me perform better than I would have without it. And I still reap the benefits today as an internal medicine resident for whom concepts learned in medical school apply broadly to my daily work (more so than any other specialty)!

Physiology

That said, there are definitely subjects for which Anki is not well-equipped to be your main study tool. For example, physiology is a huge foundational subject in medical school upon which you’ll build the rest of your knowledge, no matter your eventual specialty.

Physiology requires a deep understanding of an entire system. Learning in one hundred separate flashcards how the kidneys work or using a huge number of cards to study the steps of the coagulation cascade is unlikely to be effective.

Physiology is a subject that demands understanding from beginning to end, which is nearly impossible to achieve with information tidbits alone. Therefore, I think physiology is best left to more traditional methods of learning like concept mapping or outlines. 

Biostats

Biostats is another subject that’s not well-suited to Anki learning. You may have some success with memorizing biostatistics equations or types of research studies with Anki. However, when it comes to actually answering these questions, a deeper level of understanding and calculation is required. Best to leave that learning to the Blueprint question bank.

Ultimately, any subject that involves learning a multi-step process or complex system is ill-suited to Anki studying. 

Final Thoughts

I’m a big believer in Anki, but it’s best suited for certain subjects. Consider using it for topics that require you to memorize lots of disparate pieces of information like microbiology or anatomy, but for other subjects that require a deeper level of understanding, I’d rely on more traditional methods.

Hopefully, this post gives you some good information you can use when deciding if Anki is the best way to approach a particular topic. Best of luck with your studying!

Have you hopped on the Anki bandwagon yet? If you still have some lingering questions about how much study time you should dedicate to Anki, if you should make your own cards, and if there’s any real data to support Anki as an effective study tool, check out my related article on Anki FAQs.

As the semester comes to a close, you may be faced with the conundrum of how to use your time off. Maybe you’ll choose to take a well-deserved break after three straight months of classes. Or, you may want to get a headstart on studying for your exams and keep up the momentum from last semester.

If you do choose to study during the holidays, it’s good to find a balance between staying consistent and factoring in time to recharge so you don’t return to classes burned out. Here are a few “do’s and don’ts” of studying during the holidays.

Do: Create a realistic study plan

You talk to your classmates and say, “Oh, I can read a chapter of First Aid and do 120 questions a day over the break.” While we all believe we can realistically study 12+ hours a day, as many of us know (or will figure out soon), studying is exhausting!

Every long break that I get, I attempt to shove as many practice tests as possible, only to become disappointed when I don’t meet my lofty goals. You should be realistic and make a schedule that allows you to learn content while still getting a much-needed brain break. 

Use this break time to solidify content you have already learned and practice applying that knowledge to cases or question stems. Will reading a chapter of First Aid every day help you learn new content? Maybe! But will you remember that concept on a board exam or in front of a patient? Probably not. Instead of passively reading your textbook, try applying concepts in a patient scenario to really digest the knowledge and make better use of your study time.

Don’t: Neglect your family and downtime

After medical school, you’ll likely be working holidays and 80+ hour workweeks as a resident. So, take advantage of your holiday breaks while you still have them and spend this valuable time with friends and family. Your mental health is important! Spending all semester studying just to come home to study is not a healthy work-life balance.

I know that studying is a major stressor for nearly every medical student out there, so my recommendation is to add fun events to your schedule during your holiday break. Maybe you’ll wake up early in the morning to do some practice questions, then schedule a family outing at the movies in the middle of the day. If you still feel like you want more practice after your break, you can always watch content videos in the evening when most of the family is winding down for bed.

Scheduling fun events will not only give your brain the much-needed break it needs, but will also make your study time more efficient when you have designated time blocks for reviewing content.

Did you hear about Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner (formerly known as Cram Fighter)? It can  schedule all of your med school exams so you can spend less time planning, and more time studying (or sleeping)!

Do: Set up a “study only” space

Many students make the mistake of studying wherever is convenient rather than designating a “study only” space. Even though you may spend time in your bedroom during the holidays, studying in your bed is not a good idea! Your bed is a place of relaxation and if you study there, without knowing it, you will have bad sleep hygiene.

Designate a study location for yourself, even if you are staying at a family member’s home. If you have a loud family, try to find a place that is quieter and set up a comfortable spot designated just for studying. Sometimes, I’ll even study in my car or drive to the local library or coffee shop to study.

I know this is hard with many students, but setting a place where you are only in the study mindset will help with productivity. When you leave that space, you also leave behind all the stress of school (or at least try to) so that the rest of your home is free for family time and relaxation.

Don’t: Focus on an upcoming class

Many colleagues I know have tried to use the semester break to learn information that is upcoming in the next semester. However, I can tell you from experience that studying ahead is a waste of time! Your next term will probably have new professors and a new style of teaching. If you have made it this far in school without spending weeks before the semester begins pre-learning, why start now?

I recommend that you instead use this time to solidify the material you have done so far and start planning your board prep. Identify how your previous classes presented information differently than will be tested on the board exams, and figure out how you want to organize yourself for dedicated board prep time. You may even want to start researching which resources you’d like to use for your board prep, so you can hit the ground running when the semester starts again.

Do: Keep that motivation going

As a medical student, when you are in the weeds of basic science, you tend to lose the drive for what drew you to medicine as a field. My best advice is to remember why you wanted to become a doctor in the first place and use that to continue your momentum into the next semester.

This practice could be as simple as leaving a sticky note on your bathroom mirror reminding yourself why you started your medical journey. You could watch a video of a patient with cystic fibrosis or ask a family member with diabetes to talk about their experience. Remember, you are becoming a doctor to help others, not just to pass an exam. Keeping that in mind makes all the hard work worth it in the end.

Further Reading

• Take This Quiz & Find Out What Should Be on Your Med School Wish List! 🎁
• How to Retain Information in Medical School
• Med Student Mental Health Check In

The equation is simple: solid preparation = successful exam performance. Whether you’re getting ready to take the USMLE or COMLEX, dedicating a large chunk of time exclusively to test prep is how to ensure you’ll crush it on exam day. If you don’t put the time in, you’re going to be disappointed—period. So do yourself a favor, and put some serious prep work in for that upcoming big exam!

Of course, you probably already knew you had to take preparation seriously. But this post is about a deeper subject: what, exactly, does it mean to prepare for a high-stakes exam? Is paying attention in class preparing? Is it enough to make a study plan and answer loads of questions?

Not really. When we’re talking about preparing for an exam, we’re referring to something called “deliberate practice.” But what exactly is deliberate practice? In this post, we’ll examine the study habits of two students, Student A and Student B, to get a sense of what deliberate practice is. Then, we’ll look at some ways to incorporate it into your study plan. Let’s dive in!

What is Deliberate Practice and How Do I Use it in Medical School?

Student A vs. Student B: Which One is Using Deliberate Practice?

Let’s set the scene. Two students are working their way through a Step 2 CK Qbank, building their respective knowledge bases in preparation for the big day.

Student A:

Student A answers a question, and dutifully reviews the learning points after getting it incorrect. He nails question two, and decides to skip the explanations for this question. After all, he got it right, and he’s convinced that he knows the material.

Riding high, he does a quick scroll of Instagram, fires off a text, and then moves on to question three. He quickly chooses an answer, and although he got the question incorrect, he knew it was wrong, and only gives the explanations a partial skim to see why.

Student B:

Student B, on the other hand, wants to emulate true test conditions, so she opts for timed mode instead of tutor mode. Rather than ride the dopamine waves of correct and incorrect answers, she’s going to buckle down and focus hard for the duration of the block.

When she’s finished, out comes a notebook and First Aid for Step 2 CK. She scours every answer, whether correct or incorrect, for bits of information that might bolster her knowledge. There are no distractions, the iPhone is on airplane mode, and her noise canceling headphones are on. She annotates any novel snippets she learned into First Aid. And she lists any confusing topics in her notebook so she can visit them later. 

The answer is: Student B!

Can you see the difference between the two? Student A was practicing, and perhaps “giving it their all,” but student B went the extra mile to emulate the action of top performers in all disciplines—she practiced deliberately. 

So, how can you be more like student B, and make sure that the hours and hours you spend each day studying provide you with the most value? In other words, how can you practice deliberately and maximize your study efficiency?

Here’s some tips for making deliberate practice a part of your exam preparation.

5 Ways to Implement Deliberate Practice Into Your Study Routine

1. Cut out distractions.

Distracted learning is inferior to focused learning and deliberate practice. Why would you want to prepare for exams in an inferior manner? Distractions not only pull you away from the task at hand, but necessitate reorienting yourself to where you were before you got distracted. Distractions are the foils of efficiency.

As I prepared for my board exams, nothing was more valuable than putting my phone on airplane mode. With a single click, I could cut myself off from the endless stream of websites, songs, friends, posts, and news stories. The temptation of all the internet has to offer is almost too strong to organically steer clear of. It necessitates a “kill switch.” That hard stop is airplane mode—turn it on!

2. Do a deep analysis of every question.

The cream floats to the top, and the best question banks have the reputations they do because of their content. The top Qbanks will not only let you know the right and wrong answers, they’ll also give you jumping off points to investigate concepts you need to touch up on.

Whether you get a question right or wrong, you need to understand why the correct answer is the right one, and why every wrong answer is incorrect. If you learned something new, write it down to cement the knowledge you’ve gained. Don’t leave it on the table by deluding yourself with the all too common, “I’ll get that right on the exam when I’m really trying.”

3. Have a deliberate plan. 

The effectiveness of your studying today is only as effective as your overall study plan. As painful as it might be, it’s necessary to create a two-six week study plan (depending on which exam you’re preparing for), and stick to it. If you know what you’re going to be working on every day, more time can be devoted to studying instead of asking yourself, “What should I work on now?”

Need help making a study schedule for your USMLE or COMLEX exams? Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner schedules all of your studying for you with the click of a button—check it out!

4. Identify strengths and weaknesses.

Through both self-assessments and question banks, you should be able to identify concepts you feel good about, and those that make you shudder. Your goal is to take that question you hate answering, and turn it into one you’re excited to see.

For example, if antiarrhythmics make you queasy, your confidence will probably plummet if you come across a question that has lidocaine, amiodarone, sotalol, procainamide, and esmolol as answer choices. Put a few hours into getting them completely figured out, so that next time an antiarrhythmic question comes up, you can approach it with confidence instead of trepidation. 

5. Make preparing for the exam your #1 priority.

The only way you’re going to find the buy-in to devote so much time and energy to test preparation is to realize how important the exam is. In the scheme of things, the time you spend preparing for this test will be a fraction of your medical career. And yet, how you do on it will have a huge impact on your career.

Further Reading

Deliberate practice is a superior form of exam preparation. Use it to set yourself up for success on exam day by following these five tips. Of course, feel free to reach out to one of our tutors if you need additional help!

Looking for more (free!) tips to help prep for your med school exams? Check out these other posts from Blueprint tutors on the Med School blog!

• How I Balanced My Clinical Rotations with Shelf Exam Studying
• Step 1 Pass Rates Are Decreasing: How to Make Sure You’ll Pass
• How (and Why) to Use a Qbank to Prepare for USMLE Step 2

Finally, you’re done! You spent hours on Excel creating a study plan, and you’re letting out a sigh of relief.

But your joy is short-lived: your professor adds another suggested book to your reviewing list, a friend insists a lecture series is a must-have based on their experiences prepping for Step, or you get an additional research project, become sick, or have to take your cat to the vet. Bam – your study plan doesn’t work anymore.

Does that sound like you? Spending time constructing a new schedule is the last thing you need on top of everything else you’re dealing with! 

That’s where Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner comes to the rescue. Blueprint Prep enables you to create a highly flexible, personalized study schedule to accompany your med school experience, whether you’re just trying to keep up with classes or prep for any one of the many major med school exams.

Thousands of medical students use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to save hours of planning time, see exactly what to do each day, and ace their med school exams. Get unlimited access today!

You can always come back to add, edit, or remove resources from your study plan, giving you the luxury of worry-free studying even if your plans change. You can also use the “Edit schedule” page to change or customize any of your settings, any time you want. Whether your first introduction to Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner is today or you’re a power user, this pro tips guide is here to help make your study planning even more helpful and efficient.

Here are some ways medical students can maximize Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner:

Maximize the Value of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner When You Set It Up

A medical student can get the most out of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner from the very beginning by paying attention to how you create your plan.

Input your information with your purpose in mind

You will begin by answering a series of questions – what you’re preparing for, where you go to school, and your graduation year. Then, you’ll pick the dates most relevant to you – when you’re testing, when you plan to start studying, and when you want to wrap up your studies.

Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner lets you create multiple study blocks that you can layer as needed, so with each block you build, you should make sure you’re entering your info with that specific purpose in mind. With these blocks available it’s incredibly important to make sure you name your study blocks accurately. Medical students who get the most out of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner typically create more than one study block so they can stay better organized, and naming is a big part of keeping your blocks straight!. 

Take time to add your resources

Once you’ve set up your plan, it’s time to add your resources. Blueprint Prep has over 400 resources (books, lectures, flash cards, and Qbanks) in our database to choose from.

If you’re still not sure which resources to use, we offer a choice of pre-selected bundles of the most popular resources, as well as bundles of free resources for all major medical exams to create a balanced plan. If you know what resources you’ll be using, just search and add them to your plan.

Once you’ve added a resource, you won’t have to do that work again for a given study block – so take the time to customize as much as you need the first time you’re adding a resource.

Here are some tips for adding resources:

• Looked through our list of Supported Study Resources and can’t find a resource you want? Need anything very specific, like your professor’s handwritten manual that exists in 5 physical copies? We’ve got you covered! You can add your custom book, lecture, question bank, or flashcards right away, or you can ask us to add it for you within 3-5 business days. Add as many resources as you need! You can find detailed instructions on how to add your custom resource here.

• You don’t have to add the whole resource. If you’d like to use your resources concurrently with your school curriculum, use the option to manually select only the lessons/chapters you want to make sure your Study Plan is tailored exactly to your needs. 

Group your resources 

Now that you have all your resources added, group them in a way that works especially well for you. There are 3 options:

1. If you sort your resources by subject (default setting), all chapters and videos on the same subject will be put together in your schedule.

2. If you sort your resources by system, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner will group all chapters and videos together by system.

3. If you sort your resources by resource, you’ll be able to go from beginning to end of your book or lecture series. All the resources you choose will run concurrently.  

To change the order of the subject or systems, simply drag them into the order you desire, and click Save & Rebalance. 

Take advantage of many time settings  

Set your pace for each resource wisely. Once you’ve chosen your resources, you’ll have an opportunity to customize your plan further by selecting your pace for each of the different types of resources you’ve chosen.

Take a minute to analyze your study habits. Think about how you like to watch your lectures. Do you pause them from time to time to take notes? Or do you speed them up? If you like taking notes, then 1 hour of lecture will take you 2 hours to finish; if you prefer watching your lecture at 1.5x pace, you’ll be done with it in 40 minutes. 

Need help analyzing your study habits? Download our free “Hero’s Guide to Defeating the USMLE” for exercises and action items to help you learn how you learn!

Then, set aside some quality time for yourself! Go to the Time Off & Workload section to schedule some recurring days off and vacations, and treat your downtime activities as seriously as you treat your study time.

Since you’re already in the Time Off & Workload section, take advantage of catch-up days. Whenever you choose a catch-up day, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner makes sure not to schedule anything on that day. This way, you save up some time to get up to speed if you happen to fall behind. 

Your workload differs each day of the week, and Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner takes this into consideration to keep a healthy balance between your life and studies. Use the Routine function in your Time Off & Workload section to adjust the relative distribution of tasks per day. Set which days you want to have a light, normal, or heavy workload. A light day will have about half as much work as a normal day, and a heavy day will have about twice as much work as a normal day. 

With these few steps, you’re ready to create your study plan! 

Maximize the Value of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner During Daily Use

Life didn’t go according to plan and you ended up accumulating too many overdue tasks? Just use the Rebalance feature and feel the burden lift off your shoulders – as your overdue tasks get redistributed throughout the rest of your schedule in mere seconds. 

To make sure you’re always aware of the big picture, use Calendar View. It shows you which tasks you are to complete each day, grouped by resource and subject. If you are covering different subjects in the same resource on a given day, those tasks will be shown separately on the calendar. Resources are colored according to the subject covered in the readings or videos; flashcards and question banks can cover many subjects, so those tasks will always appear light gray.

Maximize the Value of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to Prepare for Different Medical Exams

Passing your medical exams is your goal, and study blocks are an especially useful tool. In medical school, you don’t always prepare for one exam only during a certain period of time (we wish), so take advantage of creating study blocks. Study blocks are basically concurrent or overlapping schedules, which can be useful in many situations: 

• If you want to create a light studying period during classes, and a dedicated studying period after classes.

• For giving a resource a second pass for review.

• If you need to create study plans for different exams that overlap. 

Use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to prepare for Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1

Here’s when the Study Blocks feature comes in handy! You can create a Step 1 Study Plan and a COMLEX Level 1 Study Plan that run concurrently, yet independently.

You even can make your COMLEX study plan a week longer to give you time to cover OMM preparation. 

Use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to prepare for Shelf exams

Make separate study blocks in Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner for each rotation as you go. Then, add the relevant resources to each study block – that way, they’ll be spaced out perfectly for the duration of your associated rotation. Feel free to add your framework Step 2 CK resource to your plan for each rotation as part of your pre-dedicated study time. 

While prepping for Shelf exams, try to incorporate watching and reading most of the materials in the first ⅔ of your rotation. Again, you can create a unique study block for each exam, and even for each resource, to go through it most efficiently. This way, you can spend that final lap of your rotation reviewing the areas you feel uneasy about. 

Just remember, it can be tough to fit in Shelf and Step studying during rotations! Use the “workload” tools to plan for only a few assignments on most working days. 

Use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to prepare for Step 2 CK

First, don’t forget to schedule a practice exam to figure out your weak areas and focus on the resources that will help you where you need it most. If you did your first pass through Step 2 resources by incorporating them into Shelf exam prep, feel free to choose the topics you struggle with manually in each resource. This way you’ll create a highly personalized plan without overloading yourself with additional topics you covered already. If you’ve used some lecture resources during your rotations and want to use them again, add them to your Step 2 study block, and use accelerated pace settings for your lecture settings. Again, you can manually choose the subjects you want to revise. 

Summing it all up, as a medical student, you’re eventually going to face medical exams, as stressful as they might be. To paraphrase J.R.R. Tolkien, you can’t leave live dragons out of your calculations if you know they’re out there. Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner gives you the freedom to include all of your dragons in your schedule. The more effectively you use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner at the outset and during the course of your preparation, the less daunting those dragons will become.

Image by Rob Sullivan for Med School Tutors

As medical students, we’ve all been there—buried under piles of books, drowning in information, and questioning our sanity. (Trust me, I’ve been through it, too.)

Of course, staying motivated during this grueling process is the key to success. But how can you do this, given how much there is to know, and how much you have to do? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. But relax, we’re here to help!

In this post, I’ll share seven motivation habits that helped me survive the board exams and kept my spirits high throughout medical school. Learning these techniques early on will not only help you conquer the exams but also empower you to tackle any challenges that lie ahead in your medical career.

1. Remember Your “Why”

When studying for the medical board exams gets overwhelming and you’re ready to throw in the towel, take a moment to reflect on why you embarked on this journey in the first place. Was it the desire to heal, to make a difference in people’s lives, or to challenge yourself intellectually? Whatever your “why” may be, hold onto it tightly. Remind yourself of the impact you can have as a physician and the lives you’ll touch along the way, even as a medical student and resident. Let that drive you forward when the going gets tough.

2. Break It Down

As the amount of material you have to learn piles up, studying for the medical board exams can feel like an insurmountable task. But remember, you don’t have to tackle every concept all at once! Break the material into manageable chunks and set realistic goals for each study session. By focusing on the progress you’re making, you’ll stay motivated and build momentum. 

Thousands of medical students use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to save hours of planning time, see exactly what to do each day, and ace their med school exams. Get unlimited access today!

3. Try Different Study Methods

Each of us has a different preference for learning, and it’s essential to figure out what works best for you when studying for your medical board exams. Experiment with different study techniques and environments to find the approach you like. For example, some people thrive in libraries, while others prefer the comfort of their own room. There are students who love flashcards, while others excel with visual aids or group discussions. Discover your optimal study style and create an environment that enhances your focus and wellness.

4. Take Breaks and Rest

Studying nonstop for hours on end may seem like the path to success, but it’s more likely you’ll end up burning out. When you’re preparing to take the medical board exams, rest and rejuvenation are just as important as study time. Take regular breaks to recharge your mind and body. Go for a walk, exercise, listen to music, or spend time with friends and loved ones. Live a little with some guilt-free relaxation knowing that it’ll enhance your productivity and motivation when you return to the books.

5. Create a Support System

Surround yourself with a support system of friends, family, and classmates who understand the challenges you’re facing. Share your triumphs and frustrations with them. Lean on one another for encouragement and motivation. Form study groups when you’re studying for the medical board exams, so you can bounce knowledge off each other, alleviate any doubts, and boost each other’s spirits. Together, you can commiserate on your challenges, and that camaraderie can fuel your motivation.

6. Visualize Success

Take a moment each day to visualize your success on the medical board exams. Imagine yourself confidently answering questions, demonstrating your knowledge, and achieving the results you desire. Visualization can be a powerful tool to instill confidence and maintain motivation. Believe in your abilities and trust that your hard work will pay off!

7. Celebrate Milestones

As you progress through your studies and achieve milestones, take time to celebrate your accomplishments. Reward yourself with something you enjoy—a movie night, a favorite meal, or a small treat. Celebrating milestones not only provides a well-deserved break but also reinforces the positive emotions associated with your progress, further fueling your motivation.

Further Reading

Staying motivated while studying for medical board exams is a challenge we all face. By reminding yourself of your why, breaking down your study material, finding your preferred study methods, taking breaks, building a support system, visualizing success, and celebrating milestones, you can maintain your motivation and conquer the exams. Remember, a career in medicine is not dictated by passing exams—it’s about being the compassionate and competent physician you aspire to be. Stay motivated, stay focused, and embrace the incredible journey that lies ahead. You’ve got this!

For more (free!) content from Blueprint tutors to keep you on track for your exams, check out these other posts:

• What’s the Best Med School Study Planner?
• Help, My USMLE Study Plan Isn’t Working! How to Get Back on Track
• How to Find the Best Study Spot for Your USMLE Exams
• Fitness Tips During Med School: Keeping Your Brain and Body Healthy
• How to Create Your Own Flashcards for USMLE Prep

The second year of medical school (MS2) is an exciting time. Most students will have completed the more basic science courses like biochemistry and physiology and move on to more clinical material such as pathology and pharmacology.

For this reason, the second year of medical school can be a time for immense academic growth. However, at many institutions, the second-year curriculum is even more intense and rigorous than the first year. Maintaining a good work-life balance and reducing stress are especially important as an MS2. The following tips can help you to prevent burnout during the second year of medical school.

1. Get Organized.

Because time is so limited as an MS2, being organized can go a long way in helping you feel more prepared and less stressed. The volume of coursework will seem overwhelming at first. Students who lack strong organizational skills will feel increasingly distraught, struggle to effectively study, and potentially miss important deadlines.

Prior to the start of classes, read the syllabus for each course. Have a calendar to record all important dates and deadlines, such as dates of exams or student organization meetings. If certain classes are mandatory, be sure to mark those on your calendar as well so that you never forget about them and suddenly find yourself rushing to lecture. It can also be helpful to arrange some of your extracurricular activities such as volunteering, any clinical assignments, or meetings with your professor well before exam weeks.

It is also important to have an organized way to learn and study the lecture material. For example, maybe you decide to make separate folders on your desktop to save each of the lectures for each course along with any notes or handouts you are given. Repetition is key for retaining information in medical school, so by organizing your lecture material in a way that is easiest for you, you will be more likely to solidly learn all the lectures and not forget to study any material.

2. Talk to Upperclassmen.

Try to connect with upperclassmen who have done well in the coursework material. Ask them which resources and textbooks are necessary and helpful. They can also give you clues on how to study and prepare for certain courses, and they can be a great source of moral support as the year goes on. While you may not want to go ahead and purchase every single “required” textbook just yet, you may want to reach out to upperclassmen to find out which resources are truly helpful and necessary.

3. Find Mentors.

If you know which area of medicine you would like to pursue, try to connect with faculty and residents in that field. These people can be very helpful in guiding you over the upcoming three years, and if you get to know them early on, they will be more likely to write you strong letters of recommendation.

If you aren’t sure what area of medicine you want to pursue, MS2 is a great time to keep this in the back of your mind as you gain more knowledge and more clinical experience. What is important to you in your career? Do you want a surgical or non-surgical specialty? How important is excellent work-life balance to you? Do you want to follow patients for months or years, or see something different every day? Keep these questions in mind throughout your second year as you decide which medical specialty you’d like to pursue.

4. Think About Planning for Step 1.

Consider when you will take USMLE Step 1. If your medical school takes Step 1 after the end of your second year, set a reminder on your calendar for six months prior to the end of the year. Depending on where you plan to test, seats can often fill up quickly so it’s important to register early for the exam.

If you’re just starting your USMLE exam prep, read this FREE Hero’s Guide to Defeating the USMLE, a 38-page master class from the experts that will save you time and ensure your success when you reach the final boss and face your exam. If you’re further along in your prep, it’s even easier to jump to helpful tips in the guide for your specific stage in the journey!

5. Consider Extracurricular Activities.

One of the best ways to prevent burnout in your second year of medical school is to make sure your life is not all about medicine. It can be easy to spend all day in lectures, spend all night studying, and repeat for many days without taking time to do something fun that you enjoy.

It’s entirely possible to still pursue some of your non-medical interests while in MS2, but it is about balance. Plan your afternoons to be more productive so that you can have dinner with a friend or go to the gym in the evening.

Try to take at least one night off from studying each weekend to let yourself relax and unwind. Remembering to make time for yourself will not only make you happier and healthier but will probably help you perform better in medical school as well.

6. Plan Your Vacations.

The sheer volume of material can make MS2 daunting, and the amount of studying can make it difficult to have a lot of time off. If you have friends and family out of state, you probably won’t be seeing them every weekend.

Even if your family is close by, much of your free time will be devoted to learning medicine. For this reason, it is important to make the most of the free time you do have.

Planning vacations during this time can be a great way to reduce stress and give you something to look forward to. As a first-year medical student, I took a trip to Italy over the December break to visit family, and as a second-year medical student, I spent my spring break exploring Costa Rica. On post-exam weekends, I tried to spend more time with my friends outside of medicine, catch up on sleep, or plan short getaways.

Further Reading

Overall, MS2 is a great year. In reality, it is a time in which students often note one of their biggest educational growths. However, it is important to prevent burnout by staying organized, having fun, and taking care of yourself!

If you’re looking for more (free!) resources to get you through your second year of medical school, check out these other posts from Blueprint tutors:

• 5 Self Care Tips for Medical Students
• Step 1 Pass Rates Are Decreasing: How to Make Sure You’ll Pass
• Fitness Tips During Med School: Keeping Your Brain and Body Healthy